Vegetable Barley Soup

It's one of those cold winter days which is coincidentally one of the best times to make a hardy soup! I had some pearl barley in the cupboard and potatoes, carrots and onion in the garage. With those base ingredients I decided to go make a soup!

(That doesn't look like soup? Find out why down below)

Ingredients:
1 - Medium Onion
3 - Medium Potatoes
2 - Carrots
1/2 - Can of Diced Tomatoes
1/4 - Tsp Salt
1/4 - Tsp Pepper
1/2 - Tsp Paprika
1/2 - Tsp Parsley
1/2 - Tsp Thyme
1.5 - Cups Pearl Barley
5 - Cups Beef Broth

Directions:
Dice onions and add to a large stock pot with some olive oil or butter, cook over Medium heat.

Chop up potatoes into bite size pieces and add to the pot.

Do the same for the carrots.

Pour in the half can of diced Tomatoes.

Add the salt, pepper, paprika, parsley and thyme.

Rinse the pearl barley under water (this is a must or the flavor will be off).

Add to pot.

Stir everything together.

Add in the beef stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and then let simmer for 30 minutes. This will cook the carrots, potatoes, barley and to allow the flavors to combined.

After the 30 minutes, serve and enjoy!

Now, what happened to my "soup" and why does it look more like a pasta dish? After simmering for 30 minutes, I had to take my son to his hockey game. I turned off the stove, covered the pot and left. 2 hours later when I returned, I opened the lid to find that the pearl barley had absorbed all of the liquid! I dished out the "soup" for lunch as is and it was pretty good.

For next time I can reduce the amount of pearl barley from 1.5 cups down to 2 and add an additional cup of beef broth or water. As for the rest of my "soup", I have put it in containers but I will add 1/2 - 1 cup of water to it before heating it up to eat. I don't want to add it now just in case the barley decides to try and absorb it all over again :)

Sausage Meat Enchiladas

I've been buying Sausage meat for use in spaghetti sauces but one day I bought sausage meat when there was already a bunch in the freezer so I decided to make something new. This was an on the fly recipe that I just happened to take photos for as I was making it. At first I thought it would be a little dry, because I only topped it with tomatoes instead of salsas, but with the use of the tomatoes it turned out great! The saltiness of the feta and the spices in the Sausage meat meant that I didn't need to add any additional spices.

Ingredients:
6 - Tortilla Shells
1/2 - lb Sausage Meat
1/2 - White Onion
1/2 - Yellow (or Orange) Pepper
4 - Mushrooms
2 - Vine Tomatoes
1/4 - Cup Chickpeas
1/4 - Cup Corn
1/4 - Cup Black Beans
1/4 - Cup Feta crumbled
1/2 - Cup Old Cheddar Cheese
Olive oil

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Chop up the white onion.

Chop up the mushrooms.

Chop up yellow pepper.

Fry the onion, mushroom and pepper over medium-low heat until the onions are translucent.

In a separate frying pan, fry the sausage meat over medium heat.

 Chop up the tomatoes and set aside.

Open the cans of Chickpeas, Corn and Black Beans. Rise under water and combined.

Add the Chickpea, Corn and Black Bean mixture to the onions. Reduce heat to low and mix everything together.

At this point the Sausage meat should be done. Turn off the heat.

Shred up the cheddar cheese.

Oil a baking dish.

Place the tortilla shells flat on a cutting board.

Add Sausage meat.

Add veggie mixture.

Crumb on some feta cheese.

Top with Tomatoes.

Roll and place fold side down in baking dish.

Repeat.

Top with remaining chopped tomato.

And Cheese.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes covered (My dish had a glass lid). After the 15 minutes has completed, take off the lid and increase the temperature to Broil for 5 more minutes until the cheese crisps up.

Plate and Serve!

Turmeric Slow Cooker Chicken

A big staple at my house is BBQ Chicken. The only downside with it is that the sauce is high in sugar. This recipe uses a bunch of other spices, the slow cooker and makes for a flavor-fully tender chicken! The picture shows it on top of Brown Basmati rice but I ended up adding mixing in Sour Cream and Peas to almost a Casserole type dish!




Ingredients:
1 - Tbsp Ground Turmeric
1 - Tbsp Ground Cumin
1 - Tbsp Ground Paprika
1 1/2 - Tsp Chile powder
1/2 Tsp Pepper
1/2 Tsp Sale
3 - Cloves Garlic
6 - Tbsp of Lemon Juice
2 - Large Chicken Breasts
1 - Cup of Water

(Note: Garam Masala isn't used in this recipe)

Directions:
Add all the spices to a mixing bowl.

Mix together.

Add in the Lemon juice and mix again.

Put the chicken in the bowl making sure to complete coat. At this point you can cover and put it in the fridge for an hour or overnight to let the flavors absorb into the Chicken.

Lightly oil the slow cooker, add the Chicken and then pour in the remaining sauce. Cook on low for 5 - 6 hours. I often do these things on low because I prepare them in the morning and have them cook all day for dinner that night.

Since I was home all day I checked on it a couple times and I ended up adding about 1/4 cup of water every hour (to about a full cup) or so as I felt like it was getting a little dry in there. After about 5 hours in the slow cooker it will look something like this.

(Bad lighting but it smelt really good)

Scoop over top of rice and serve or as I mentioned above, add sour cream and peas to make that Casserole type dish!